Everyone has been talking in the Paradise office about the photo on the front cover of the May-June issue. It’s an amazing portrait of Papua New Guinean farmer Siko Tota, who lives in Komufe village near Goroka.
His piercing eyes are looking straight at the camera and he is in traditional gear. The beads and adornments around his neck and chest are shown in intricate detail.
The photo is one of several we have featured in a photographic portfolio of PNG, taken by famed American photographer Sandro Miller.
Chicago-based Miller has taken images from more than 450 PNG communities, his work has been shown at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington in the US, and there is a book on the way.
Miller says it is the most expansive collection of photographs of the tribes of PNG ever recorded.
If you enjoy looking at his portraits in Paradise, be sure to take a look at his website, sandrofilm.com, to see even more stunning portraiture from all over the world, including his portraits of Hollywood actor John Malkovich.
This issue of Paradise also features Bougainville’s little-known Reeds Festival, a colourful gathering of bamboo pipes and swaying grass skirts.
We also visit a Jurassic-like landscape of thick jungle and spectacular waterfalls on New Britain Island, where villagers are working hard to get a new eco tourism venture up and running.
As our writer says: “Think tremendous landscapes and cliffs carpeted in white wildflowers, elaborate and uncharted cave systems boring into the sides of mountains and bright-blue crystal cascades raging downstream.”
Other destinations visited include Wewak, Fiji, Macau and Singapore.
If you’re contemplating the Kokoda Trail, don’t miss our gear guide. It has advice on everything from the best boots, to backpacks, sleeping bags and walking poles.
Happy flying and reading.
Robert Upe, Editor
Paradise magazine, May/June 2019 (click here to view)
